1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to astronomy, specifically to an electronic device capable of locating and identifying celestial objects.
2. Description of Prior Art
People have always been fascinated with the heavens. They have been cited for the origins of the universe and life. Stars and constellations are the basis of fables, myths, and stories in almost every culture on the earth. The stars are used as indicators of peoples"" future by some. Sailors and other travelers rely on certain stars and constellations as indicators of position and direction. Further, there is an enormous amount of professional and hobbyist interest in the stars.
Both professionals and hobbyists use celestial object identifying devices to locate a star, constellation, planet, comet, asteroid, artificial satellite, deep sky object or other heavenly objects, which shall be referred to collectively as celestial objects. Some existing celestial object identifying devices function by using a combination of mechanical electrical or pre-tabulated charts or tables.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,863,365 to Moliard discloses a method which uses a flat spinning disc that contains a pictorial representation of a celestial hemisphere containing constellations and stars. The user must rotate the disc to the current time and date, and then orient themselves with the proper compass direction. Identification of a celestial object is attempted by the user comparing the sky with the celestial hemisphere pictorial representation. This method proves rather difficult to locate a celestial object, in that the sky and the pictorial representation of the celestial hemisphere are two different scales. Additionally, the disc contains a flattened perspective of the celestial hemisphere making it difficult to judge at what angle of declination one would locate the desired celestial object. Further, the sky contains many more celestial objects than the pictorial representation can possibly contain, making it difficult to determine which pattern of stars on the pictorial representation corresponds to a particular region of the sky.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,704,653 to Lee discloses a pictorial representation of the celestial hemisphere in which is incorporated an electronic compass. The electronic compass identifies which region of the sky the operator of the Lee device is facing. The compass assists in pointing to the approximate azimuth of the celestial object. However, the task of determining the proper declination, and performing a mental translation from a set of maps, to the particular region of the sky one is observing, is still handled unaided by the operator. This leaves most of the work in locating a celestial object to the operator.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,938,697 to Mayer contains a somewhat clumsy and complicated mechanical method of directly observing a region of the sky without a map. It requires a good deal of understanding of the devices workings to obtain any success, in addition it can only locate a star-group or constellation.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,970,793 to Atamian contains a method for location of stars and constellations, yet it requires manual alignment of a sphere oriented with the sky to work properly. It also has the same scale difference problem mentioned above that U.S. Pat. No. 3,863,365 that leaves much ambiguity in observing heavenly bodies.
Thus, there is a need for a more user friendly device to locate celestial objects.
An improved celestial object locating device has been discovered. In an aspect of the invention, a device allows a user to point the device at a celestial object and the device announces to the user of the celestial object""s identity. In another aspect of the invention, the user directs the device to find a desired celestial object. This is done through a view port and the instrument detects the geographical location of the user, the time, and the azimuth and nadir of the direction of the view port automatically, resulting in a simple to use celestial object location device. Other embodiments of the invention comprise combinations of the above aspects. These aspects of the invention eliminate the disadvantages of the prior art concerning scale and translation from a celestial map. Further, in an aspect of the invention, the device is hand-held or attached to a computational device such that the device is portable.
In an aspect of the invention, a celestial object location (COL) device for viewing from a location at a time and a date comprises a viewing means, a processor, a 3-axis magnetic sensor, a 3-axis gravitational sensor, a location means, a time means, and a database. The viewing means assists a user of the COL device in observing along a viewing axis defined by an azimuth angle and a nadir angle. The 3-axis magnetic sensor is adapted to provide the processor with azimuth data representing the azimuth angle. The 3-axis gravitational sensor is adapted to provide the processor with nadir data representing the nadir angle. The locations means provides location data representing the location to the processor. The time means provides time and date data representing the time and date to the processor. The database is adapted to be accessed by the processor and provide data such that the processor determines celestial coordinates of right ascension and declination corresponding to the viewing axis based on the azimuth data, the nadir data, the location data, and the time and date data.
In a further aspect of the invention, the viewing means comprises a viewing channel adapted to enable a user to observe through the device along the viewing axis.
In a further aspect of the invention, there is a direction indicator adapted to announce directions to change the angular orientation viewing axis, wherein the direction indicator is further adapted to be controlled by the processor and comprises a visual indicator, an auditory indicator, or a tactile indicator.
In a still further aspect of the invention, the direction indicator is adapted to be controlled by the processor, comprises an illuminate-able visual display that is viewable by the user when the user is observing through the viewing channel, and is adapted to illuminate at least a portion of the visual display such that a user changes the viewing axis based on the illuminated visual display. The visual display may be a circularly arranged series of illuminate-able arrows, wherein the processor and the arrows are adapted such that the processor directs a least a portion of the arrows to be illuminated.
In an aspect of the invention, a reticule is present and adapted to be viewable by the user when the user is observing through the viewing channel.
In an aspect of the invention, the viewing means comprises a display screen adapted to display an image observed along the viewing axis. Further, there may be a direction indicator adapted to announce directions to change the angular orientation viewing axis, wherein the direction indicator is further adapted to be controlled by the processor and comprises a visual indicator, an auditory indicator, or a tactile indicator.
In an aspect of the invention, the device comprises a housing and wherein the viewing means comprises a viewing channel extending through the housing and adapted to permit a user to observe through the viewing channel along the viewing axis. In a further aspect of the invention, the processor is spaced apart from the housing. In an additional aspect of the invention, the housing is adapted to be held by the user while the user is observing through the viewing channel.
In a further aspect of the invention, the COL device comprises a direction indicator adapted to announce directions to change the angular orientation of the viewing axis, wherein the direction indication is further adapted to be controlled by the processor and comprises a visual indicator, an auditory indicator, or a tactile indicator. This COL device may further comprise a user interface adapted for the user to input an identification of a celestial object or celestial coordinates to the processor. Additionally, the processor and the database is adapted such that the processor directs the user via the direction indicator to change the angular orientation of the viewing axis such that the viewing axis is aligned with the celestial object or the celestial coordinates, wherein the database comprises data associating the identification of the celestial object with the celestial object""s celestial coordinates.
In still further aspects of the invention, the processor is adapted to announce to the user via the direction indicator that the viewing axis is aligned with the celestial object or the celestial coordinates. Additionally, the user interface may be adapted for the user to input an identification of a celestial object comprising multiple celestial coordinates. In this case, the processor and the database is adapted such that the processor directs the user via the direction indicator to change the angular orientation of the viewing axis such that the viewing axis is serially aligned with the multiple celestial coordinates of the celestial object, thereby the user is provided with a tour of the celestial object. In a still further aspect of the invention, the user interface is adapted for the user to input a signal to the processor to direct the user via the direction indicator to change the angular orientation of the viewing axis from a current celestial coordinate to a next multiple celestial coordinate.
In a further aspect of the invention, there is a user interface adapted for the user to signal to the processor to identify a celestial object or celestial coordinates aligned with the viewing axis, wherein the database is adapted for the processor to access the database for data related to the celestial object or the celestial coordinates. The user interface is further adapted to announce to the user the celestial object or the celestial coordinates. In a still further aspect of the invention, the user interface is adapted for the user to signal to the processor through activating a manual switch or through an auditory command, and for the processor to announce to the user through a visual display or a speaker.
In a further aspect of the invention, the database is adapted to be changed by the user editing the database through a user interface of the device in functional communication with the processor, a plug-in module adapted to be in functional communication with the processor, or an information transfer system adapted to be in functional communication with the processor.
In an aspect of the invention, the location means comprises a user interface adapted for the user to input location information to the processor, wherein the database is adapted to provide the processor with the location data based on the inputted location information.
In an aspect of the invention, the time means comprises a time keeping device adapted to provide the time and date data to the processor.
In an aspect of the invention, the location means and the time means comprises a global positioning device adapted to provide the location data and the time and date data to the processor.
In an aspect of the invention, there is an output device for announcing the elevation angle of the viewing axis, wherein the elevation angle is nadir angle minus 90 degrees.
In an aspect of the invention, there is an output device for announcing a compass heading as a function of the azimuth angle and the nadir angle.
In an aspect of the invention, there are compensation instructions readable by the processor and/or compensation data in the data base such that the processor compensates for procession, earth elongation, magnetic variation, parallax, nutation, or a combination thereof.
In an aspect of the invention, there is a temperature sensor adapted to interface with and enable the processor to make thermal error compensations of the magnetic and gravitational sensors.
In an aspect of the invention, the database contains additional data representing when a celestial object is visible to a naked eye at the location, the device further comprises an announcement device functionally connected to the processor, and the processor is adapted to announce through the announcement device the additional data representing when the celestial object is visible to a user at the location.
In an aspect of the invention, there is a celestial object location device for use from a location at a time and a date comprising:
a. a housing comprising a viewing channel adapted for a user to observe through the viewing channel and along a viewing axis to a position in the sky aligned with the viewing axis, wherein the housing is adapted to be held by the user while the user is observing through the viewing channel;
b. a processor;
c. a 3-axis magnetic sensor adapted to provide the processor with azimuth data representing an azimuth angle of the viewing axis;
d. a 3-axis gravitational sensor adapted to provide the processor with nadir data representing a nadir angle of the viewing axis;
e. a location data input device adapted to provide the processor with location data representing the location of the celestial object location device;
f. a time data input device adapted to provide the processor with time and date data representing the time and date of a use of the device;
g. a user interface for inputting user data to the processor and announcing information to the user;
h. a direction indicator adapted for the processor to announce through the direction indicator to the user directions for changing the angular orientation of the viewing axis; and
i. a database adapted to be accessed by the processor such that the processor, based on the azimuth data, the nadir angle, the location data, the time and date data, the user data, and the database, announces to the user:
i) through the user interface an identification of a celestial object aligned with the viewing axis;
ii) through the user interface celestial coordinates aligned with the viewing axis; or
iii) through the direction indicator directions for the user to change the viewing axis based on user data comprising identification of a celestial object or a celestial coordinate.
In an further aspect of the invention, the processor is spaced apart from the housing.
In a further aspect of the invention, the direction indicator comprises a circularly arranged series of illuminate-able arrows that are in functional communication with the processor, the arrows being adapted such that illuminated arrows are visible by the user observing through the viewing channel, and the direction indicator and the processor are adapted to illuminate at least a portion of the arrows such that a user changes the angular orientation of the viewing axis based on the illuminated portion of the arrows.
In a further aspect of the invention, the database is adapted to be changed by the user editing the database through the user interface, a plug-in module adapted to be in functional communication with the processor, or an information transfer system adapted to be in functional communication with the processor.
In an aspect of the invention, there is a process for observing celestial objects comprising the steps of
a. providing a user with a device for observing the celestial objects along a viewing axis;
b. identifying an azimuth angle of the viewing axis via a 3-axis magnetic sensor adapted to determine the azimuth angle;
c. identifying a nadir angle of the viewing axis via a 3-axis gravitational sensor adapted to determine the nadir angle; and
d. determining celestial coordinates of right ascension and declination based on the azimuth angle, the nadir angle, a location of the device, and a current time and date.
In a further aspect of the invention, the providing step further comprises a step of holding the device, the 3-axis magnetic sensor, and the 3-axis gravitational sensor in a hand of the user. In a still further aspect of the invention, the 3-axis magnetic sensor and the 3-axis gravitational sensor are integral to the device.
In a further aspect of the invention, there is a step of directing a processor to receive data representing the azimuth angle, the nadir angle, the device location, and the current time and date, consult a database, and announce the celestial coordinates via an announcement device.
In a further aspect of the invention, there is the step of inputting to a processor an identification of a desired celestial object wherein the processor is also directed to perform the determining the celestial coordinates step. Further, there is a step of directing the processor to announce, via a direction indicator, instructions understandable to the user concerning how to change the angular orientation of the viewing axis until the desired celestial object is aligned with the viewing axis. In a still further aspect of the invention, there is the step of repeating the directing the processor to announce step such that the user is instructed to tour through portions of the desired celestial object.
In a further aspect of the invention, there is the step of inputting to a processor a desired celestial coordinate wherein the processor is also directed to perform the determining the celestial coordinates step. There is also the step of directing the processor to announce via a direction indicator instructions concerning how to change the angular orientation of the viewing axis until the desired celestial coordinate is aligned with the viewing axis.
In an aspect of the invention, a process of observing a celestial object comprises the step of providing an embodiment of the invention described in this disclosure and the step of updating the database with additional data concerning the celestial object such that a user of the device directs the processor to announce the directions to change the angular orientation of the viewing axis such that the viewing axis is aligned with the celestial object via the direction indicator. In a further aspect of the invention, the updating step comprises the step of functionally connecting a plug-in module comprising the additional data to the device or the step of downloading the additional data to the database via an information transfer system. The downloading step may comprise the step of accessing the Internet to retrieve the additional data. Further, accessing step comprises the step of purchasing the additional data.
Further objects and advantages will become apparent from a consideration of the drawings and ensuing description.